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David Roberts

David Roberts

Posted: October 26, 2007 08:01 PM

The twilight of Inhofe


grist.org

James InhofeSen. James Inhofe has become something of an epic figure, worthy of contemplation by historians, playwrights, or perhaps psychoanalysts. The zeitgeist, which once seemed to rise up around him like a thundercloud, has now moved on, leaving him dripping and bedraggled, resorting to ever more unhinged grand gestures to try to recapture some of the old magic. His historical moment is over, as his career may soon be, but he's not going gently into that good night.

Quite the contrary: he seems to have entered some sort of bizarre fugue state, taking to the Senate floor for over two hours today to rail against rising tide of concern over global warming. It's all there: ranting against "Hollywood," fear of world government, demagogic use of children, and meticulous stitching together of every flat-earth skeptic fairy tale Google has to offer. He might as well be the sweaty guy in the overcoat on the street corner, with his collage of newspaper clippings, the one that reveals the conspiracy They Don't Want You to Know. Only this guy's a United States Senator.

The country seems to be waking up from it Bush-era fever dream. When we have fully shaken off our slumber, I suspect we will look back on this late-period 'winger reverie with amazement, as an exemplar and a warning of how far things can go off the rails.

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12:01 AM on 10/27/2007
Inhofe, senator from Oklahoma, is from one of the most right-wing states in the union. He will get re-elected in 2008---odds of about 50-1 in favor of his re-election. Oklahomans mostly still think that Bushie is doing a heckuva job.
The Inhofe opponent needs help. Publicity especially, since Oklahoma media will not negatively reflect on Inhofe. Everybody publish all the lies of Inhofe: he says Iraq conquest is "nothing short of a miracle"; that we went to war in Iraq for other than WMD; that global warming---at first he denied, but now he admits---cannot be fixed without harming the economy (read without harming his corporate sponsors).

Inhofe will pound his opponent by claiming his opponent is for gays, against guns, and against god. These old chestnuts work well in Oklahoma.
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11:03 PM on 10/26/2007
Now there's a REAL conservative.

I think that they might be among the first to become extinct as a result of Global Warming.
09:38 PM on 10/26/2007
Inhoff could team up with Craig and get lots of attention.
09:34 PM on 10/26/2007
Sen. Infantile Neurotic Hostile Obstinate Fanatical Egomaniac
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Lt
08:36 PM on 10/26/2007
another piece of evidence that impeachment is a good thing,

and lets all remember how we got this clown.

the "MINDLESS CHRISTIAN VOTE"
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Sarastro
Teleradiologist
08:29 PM on 10/26/2007
Senator Inhofe has been no more than a spokesperson for the oil industry's pseudoscientific denial of climate change causes for a long time. He can't admit any errors in his stand. It takes a progressive reasoning human being to admit mistakes. There are few such in politics.